The German Bundesliga is a traditional team tournament featuring some of the best players in the world. After 11 rounds in the 2023/24 season, Viernheim have a clear 3-point lead over the perennial favourites from Baden-Baden. In round 9, Viernheim’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov obtained a memorable attacking victory over Gata Kamsky. The game was expertly analysed by IM Robert Ris!
Baskaran Adhiban had quite a rough start in the FIDE Grand Swiss, but that did not prevent him from returning to his trademark creative style in round six against Eduardo Iturrizaga. We don’t want to give too many spoilers, but Paul Morphy would have been proud! In Game of the Week #594, Merijn Van Delft takes a closer look at this encounter. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can <a href="https://account.chessbase.com/en/create-account" target=" blank">register a Premium account here</a>.
A sole leader emerged for the first time in the open section of the Grand Swiss, as Andrey Esipenko beat Marc’Andria Maurizzi to become the only player to reach a 3½/4 score. A 17-player chasing pack stands a half point behind, with Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja and Hans Niemann among those who joined this group by winning on Saturday. In the women’s section, Anna Muzychuk could not convert her advantage in the co-leaders’ clash with Tan Zhongyi. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
The Spanish Championships were held in Marbella this year, a nine round Swiss, in which men and women played in the same tournament. In the end, Eduardo Iturrizaga and Sarasadat Khademalsharieh won the titles. With 7.0/9 Iturrizaga shared first with Alan Pichot and Maksim Chigaev, but won the tournament on tiebreak. Khademalsharieh finished with 6.0/, but had a better tiebreak than her rival Marta Garcia Martin. | Photos: Patricia Claros Aguilar (FEDA)